


Overboard

by DrabblingSparks (ingenious_spark)



Series: Kingdom Hearts prompts & short fic [13]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drabble, Drowning, F/F, Flirting, Long Live Feedback Comment Project, Mermaids, Predatory Merfolk, Prompt Fic, Sailing, Treasure Hunting, Underwater Ruins, Washed Overboard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 04:37:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19986235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ingenious_spark/pseuds/DrabblingSparks
Summary: Tifa is washed overboard during a storm, and then dragged under. With some help, she rescues herself, and meets a beautiful- woman?





	Overboard

**Author's Note:**

> From a list of prompts over on my tumblr, [@oopsbirdficced](http://oopsbirdficced.tumblr.com).
> 
> The prompts are all written by [@normal_horoscopes](http://normal_horoscopes.tumblr.com) over on tumblr! I encourage you to check them out!

_Pisces: A sunken empire. Pillars of shining black salt break the waves, the deeper recesses of the grand palace lie sodden and unexplored._

She falls.

The storm is powerful, the huge waves crashing against strong black pillars like a maze, the captain’s greed and hubris having driven them into a treacherous situation. Tifa is swept off the edge, toes trying to grip the bare wood under her feet, hands grasping for the rail, before it’s torn from her fingers. Her lifeline catches her, drives the air from her lungs and bruises her ribcage. Tifa catches her breath, and the rope in her hands, bracing her feet against the side of the ship to haul herself back up.

The rope reverberates with a snapping feeling, and she jerks. Her heart sinks. Tifa tries to climb faster, tries to shout over the sound of the storm, face plastered with wet strands that have come free of her braid.

Too late. The rope snaps, caught against something sharp, or something metal, or just too worn out to have continued use.

Tifa hits the water and it hurts. She’s going to have bruises on bruises if she survives this.

That’s a pretty big _if_ , though.

A dark shape moves in the water as she struggles up to the surface, catching a precious lungful of air, and seeing, leaning over the edge, looking down at her- her best friend, blurry through rain and seawater, stricken blue eyes and blond hair weighed heavy with water. She reaches out to him, despite knowing he can’t possibly reach her.

Then something catches her ankle in a tight, bruising grip, and she’s pulled under.

Tifa manages to hold a deep lungful of air as she’s dragged through dark water, squirming and kicking at her assailant. The creature blends into the water, dark and sinuous, but she catches a glimpse of alien, golden eyes. Teeth snap at her, and she kicks at them viciously, feeling her heel impact in the thing’s face, drawing blood even through her heavy calluses. It lets her go, and reels back, and at the same time another shape, equally sinuous and paler, rockets out of nowhere and slams the dark one back.

A hand- a _hand_ , gods above those are _fingers_ \- catches her wrist and pulls her against a chill, scaled body, and the pale creature races away from the dark one, Tifa clutched in its arms. She struggles- of course she does, she has no way of knowing if this creature has just decided to steal the other creature’s lunch, or what. Unfortunately, she’s running out of air. Her chest is cramping viciously with the effort of not drawing in a lungful of water, and her struggles are getting pretty weak as her vision fades.

Something presses against her mouth, and works her lips open, and she instinctively tries to breathe- and she can. The kiss isn’t a kiss, the creature is helping her breathe, giving Tifa its own precious oxygen. It pulls her through something that looks, impossibly, like a sunken palace. Like the very thing the captain was trying to find.

Then her head breaks air, and Tifa jerks away to draw a noisy, ragged, blessedly full breath, and starts coughing wretchedly. The creature keeps her gently afloat, until she’s recovered from her fit and looks at the other.

Tifa’s heard the stories- what sailor hasn’t? But she’d never imagined she’d actually encounter a real mermaid. The mermaid is actually quite pretty, a dappled blue and white with blue hair and eyes.

“Are you okay?” They- she?- asks, and Tifa nods.

“I- as well as I can be, I think.” She says, a touch belatedly. The mermaid smiles, and those neat, shiny shark teeth in their mouth ought to be intimidating.

“I’m Aqua. I’m sorry about Vanitas, he’s an asshole. He’s the one who tried to drag you under.” Aqua explains. Tifa nods again, not sure what else to do.

“Um- my ship-” she says, and Aqua shakes her head, guiding her to a smooth, black stone ledge she gratefully perches on.

“I can take you back up when the storm has passed.” She offers, and Tifa relaxes a bit.

“That sounds good.” She returns, quietly relieved. A nice mermaid, then, with luck. She sighs softly, looking at her companion, who has her elbows propped on the stone ledge, pulling her torso part way out of the water. No evident breasts there, unlike all the stories. That’ll be something to rub in the other sailors’ faces. Tifa averts her gaze back up to Aqua’s face, realizing she’d been lingering on the shimmering patterns of her scales, and the soft, cushiony, muscular curves of her body. “I didn’t think mermaids were real,” she comments, and Aqua’s laughs is like chiming bells. Enchanting.

“I’d say the same about humans, but we get drowning folk more often than I’d like. This area is prone to storms, and people searching for lost treasures.” Aqua says warmly, and Tifa laughs too, soft and hoarse. “Also that kick you nailed Vanitas with was a thing of beauty. He’ll be missing some teeth until he can grow them back. May I check your foot? I tasted some blood, back there.” Aqua offers, and Tifa pulls her foot out of the water, crossing it over her thigh for Aqua to inspect, smiling softly.

“A savior and a nurse,” she comments wryly. Aqua smiles up at her.

“You did most of the saving yourself,” she replies. Tifa laughs, glancing around.

“Could I look around, since I’m here?” She asks curiously. It looks like she’s seated on the steps of a huge temple, shining black in the soft, phosphorescent glow of whatever is lighting the area. Aqua shrugs.

“If you want.” She replies. “There’s traps, though. You’d have to be careful.”

“Ah, so I wouldn’t get a guided tour?” Tifa jokes, shooting Aqua a winning smile. Aqua smiles back, extracting something from Tifa’s foot, before binding the wound in seaweed.

“Not if it’s treasure you’re after,” she replies, handing Tifa what looks like a shark tooth. “There you go. Proof you kicked Vanitas in the face.”

“Treasure? No, that’s the captain. I have my trophy right here,” she chuckles, holding the tooth up to the dim light. Aqua smiles.

“Then perhaps we can work something out,” Aqua says warmly.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * Constructive criticism
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
>   * Comments not in English
> 

> 
> LLF Comment Builder
> 
> This author replies to comments. It might take a few days/weeks depending on how busy I am, but you will receive a reply.
> 
> If you don’t want a reply, for any reason, feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will respond only with an emoji! I will respond only because I have some compulsive tendencies towards replying to comments.


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